Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership Yearly Report 2024-25

Foreword

The Devon SCP remains committed to building a strong and mature approach to safeguarding with our partners across the county. Our focus on assurance, learning, and continuous improvement within our collective safeguarding system is reflected in the quality of support and constructive challenge across agencies. Our senior leaders model collaborative behaviours and high standards expected throughout our services, with our ambition remaining clear: to ensure that every child in Devon is safe, supported, and given the right support, at the right time, in the right place. 

We continue to see strong agency engagement in assurance activity, workforce development, and learning from serious safeguarding cases and we welcome the active involvement of partner agencies in these key safeguarding activities.. Their consistent participation reflects a strong commitment to collaborative improvement and maintaining high standards across the partnership. 

Devon SCP has continued to support multi-agency practitioners through a range of targeted resources and learning opportunities. Safeguarding Best Practice events and our annual week long Safeguarding Conference, “SaFest” focuses on key themes including learning from reviews, neglect, and domestic abuse, serious violence, exploitation and child sexual abuse, providing accessible materials to support frontline practice.

Our priorities are aligned to our multi-agency audits and quality assurance work and our Independent Scrutineer has offered a valuable independent oversight, as well as supporting the work of the Partnership. Our restorative, relational and trauma informed practices underpin all that we do. 

As safeguarding partners, we remain fully committed to strengthening and continuously improving our multi-agency arrangements. We do this by ensuring that our lead safeguarding partners are kept informed of the partnership’s activity, emerging issues requiring collective attention, and areas where strategic oversight is essential. Devon SCP is proud to be a partnership which is committed to continuous development, built on mutual respect, shared responsibility, and constructive challenge.

We thank our partners, and all those across Devon, who work every day to safeguard children. 

• Penny Smith, Chair of the Devon SCP and Chief Nursing Officer, Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB), NHS Devon 
• Julian Wooster, Interim Director of Children’s Service, Devon County Council
• Roy Linden, Policing Commander for South Devon, Devon & Cornwall Police 
• Helen Casson, Director of Education, Wave Multi-Agency Academy Trust 

Introduction

Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership (Devon SCP) was established under Working Together to Safeguard Children 2018 (WT18) arrangements since September 2018, and from December 2023 has been working under the requirements in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 (WT23).

Safeguarding partners must jointly report on the activity they have undertaken over a 12-month period (1 April to 31 March) and should be transparent and easily accessible to families and professionals with a focus on the multi-agency priorities, learning, impact, evidence and improvement. 

Our local multi-agency safeguarding arrangements were reviewed and published in December 2023, and include our arrangements for the safeguarding partners to work together to identify and respond to the needs of children in the area, arrangements for commissioning and publishing local child safeguarding practice reviews and arrangements for independent scrutiny of the effectiveness of the arrangements. These arrangements now reviewed annually, as required by WTG23 and will be re-published by 31 December each year. 

The Department of Education (DfE) commissioned high-level research in December 2024, to understand, through analysis of the 2023-24 yearly reports, how safeguarding partnerships have developed their approaches in the past year. Yearly reports must be published in accordance with the requirements set out in the Children Act 2004 and Working Together to Safeguard Children. Safeguarding partners must jointly report on the activities they have undertaken over a 12-month period. 

The yearly reports are a main tool of accountability for partnerships and are a key source of data and evidence for the DfE, Department for Health and Social Care and Home Office, as the three main government departments with responsibility for safeguarding. 

This annual report has been written using the Department for Education’s recommended template, as outlined in the publication Safeguarding partners yearly reports analysis 2023 to 2024. Our reporting approach aims to be transparent and easily accessible to both families and professionals with a focus on showcasing the safeguarding partnership’s multi-agency work and demonstrating the impact of our collective efforts. 

Section 1: Area profile and context

Local Context and Demographics 

Devon is a predominantly rural county in the South West of England, with a diverse mix of urban centres, market towns, and coastal communities. Devon has a population of 842,313 (ONS 2024 mid-year population estimates). 148,164 of the population are under 18 (ONS 2024 mid-year population estimates), accounting for 17.6% of the population. The child population is spread across a wide geographical area, which presents unique challenges in terms of service accessibility and delivery. The majority of people living in Devon are White (96.4% – 2021 census inc White British & Other White groups), Exeter however has a higher proportion of people from black or global majority ethnic backgrounds than other Devon districts. 6.2% of primary school children and 5.8% of secondary school children in Devon have a first language other than English (2024, LAIT), both significantly lower than the national average. 

18.6% of children in Devon live in low income families (2024, LAIT), compared to 22.1% nationally & 18.3% regionally. 19.3% of primary aged children and 21.1% of secondary aged children are eligible for free school meals (2024, LAIT). 15.5% of pupils have special educational needs (2024, LAIT), 6.5% of pupils have an EHCP (2024, LAIT), this has risen over the last 5 years and is higher than the national average. 

Rates of infant mortality, under 18 conception & children in reception year who are overweight or obese are lower than the national average, while rates of alcohol related hospital admission and impatient admission for mental health for children in Devon are significantly higher. 

During 2024/25, 3087 Early help assessments were completed for children and young people. 5700 referrals were made to childrens social care in 2024/25, a small decrease (2.2%) from 2023/24. The rate of referrals (384.7 per 10,00) is lower than that of Devon’s statistical neighbours (449.2) and England (518.3) for 2023/24. During 2024/25, 2581 Section 47 investigations were initiated, broadly similar to 2023/24. This equates to a rate per 10,000 of 174.2, slightly higher than Devon’s statistical neighbours and slightly lower than the national average. 

As at 31st March 2025, 578 children were being supported by a child protection plan. This represents a significant increase (24.6%) from 31st March 2024 and brings the rate per 10,000 (39.0) closer to Devon’s statistical neighbours and the England rate for 2024. 

As at 31st March 2025, there were 894 children looked after, a small increase from 31st March 2024 and similar to 31st March 2023. Placement stability continues to be a challenge for Devon, with the percentage of children looked after at 31st March with 3 or more placement moves within a year higher than the national average and that of Devon’s statistical neighbours.

Recent Inspections and Findings 

Devon’s safeguarding landscape has been shaped by several key inspections over the past year: 

• Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILACS) was conducted between 30 September and 11 October 2024, with a follow-up in January 2025. The inspection highlighted ongoing concerns about the quality of services and outcomes for children, noting that “children’s experiences in Devon remain poor”

• Children’s Services Monitoring Visits were carried out on 5 March 2024 and 11 April 2024, focusing on progress against previously identified areas for improvement. 

• The Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) Annual Report 2023–24 provided insights into the handling of allegations against professionals, with a continued emphasis on timely and proportionate responses. 

• The Child Death Overview Panel (CDOP) report for 2023–24 identified key learning from child deaths in the region, contributing to preventative strategies and multi-agency responses. 

Safeguarding Partnerships and Collaboration 

Implementation of Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 – To align Devon’s multi-agency safeguarding arrangements with this updated statutory guidance, replacing the 2018 publication, an implementation plan was created. The plan also supported the Government’s strategy from Stable Homes, Built on Love (2023). 

To achieve compliance with WT23, the plan set out these main objectives all of which were completed and implemented by 31 December 2024: 

• The roles of Lead and Delegated Safeguarding Partners (LSPs/DSPs) were clarified, a partnership chair was already in place, and strategic leadership was strengthened by engaging early with Heads of Statutory Agencies to formalise their involvement. An LSP Assurance statement and Terms of Reference were written and agreed. The DSP Terms of Reference was amended accordingly. 

• To ensure the principles of multi-agency working were embedded, the Safeguarding Arrangements were reviewed and revised and published on 31^st December. These will be reviewed annually. 

• To improve the inclusion of education, early years and childcare, VCSE organisations, and sports clubs we liaised with various community organisations across Devon and set up forums. Education representatives already participated in key groups such as the Quality Assurance and Workforce Delivery Group (QADWG), Business Group, and the Devon SCP Executive and the Education Advisory Group was re-established and invigorated by a new Chair. County-wide Locality and Practitioner Forums continued to develop in order to share information and gather feedback on WT23 implementation. Voluntary sector network meetings were set up. This is still an area for development. 

• To strengthen governance and ensure transparency across safeguarding arrangements, the following was undertaken: 

• A revised scrutiny plan for 2024/25 was developed to meet the expectations set out in WT23. This will enhance independent oversight of multi-agency safeguarding activity. 

• The process for producing the Devon SCP annual report was updated to ensure timely publication by September 2024, in line with statutory requirements. 

• The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) informed service planning. The Director of Public Health, supported by ICB Executive Leads made sure that children’s needs were fully reflected. Safeguarding partners are now expected to use the JSNA to understand local patterns of need and shape services accordingly. 

• To ensure consistency with Working Together 2023, multi-agency policies, procedures, and training programmes were reviewed and updated. Commissioned trainers were briefed to incorporate WT23 changes into the training offer, and a 12-month programme was agreed from September 2024. Additionally, a quarterly newsletter was developed to raise awareness across agencies, supported by updated website content and partner briefings. 

• Devon SCP strengthened its oversight of early help and child protection through regular monitoring via the Devon Improvement Board and OFSTED, with plans for a partnership-led assurance report. Child protection practice was reviewed against the new national multi-agency standards, supported by a workforce development plan. Additionally, multi-agency bitesize workshops were delivered to clarify Section 17 responsibilities under the Children Act 1989, and a local protocol was developed in collaboration with safeguarding partners. 

• Devon SCP sought assurance from probation and prison services regarding their alignment with Working Together 2023 requirements. The partnership also confirmed that the local authority had implemented processes to report the deaths of care leavers up to age 25, in line with new guidance. 

• Local guidance and procedures for child death reviews were updated to reflect factual changes introduced in Working Together 2023. This work was led by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review (CSPR) Group, and completed by May 2024. 

Other key developments during this reporting period include: 

• Strengthened Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements (MASA), with improved data sharing and joint training initiatives. 

Proactive preparation for Joint Targeted Area Inspections (JTAIs) has been a key focus, with partner undertaking joint reviews and thematic audits – particularly around domestic abuse, serious violence and neglect – to ensure readiness and strengthen multi-agency responses ahead of any future inspection. 

Section 2: Outlining requirements set out in statutory guidance

Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 

WT23 arrangements state that a Safeguarding Partner in relation to a Local Authority area in England is defined under the Children Act 2004 (as amended by the Children and Social Work Act, 2017) as: 

1. the Local Authority 

2. an Integrated Care Board for an area any part of which falls within the Local Authority area

3. the Chief Officer of Police for an area any part of which falls within the Local Authority area 

Governance and Structure 

Devon SCP operates under the statutory framework set out in Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023, which defines safeguarding partners as the Local Authority, the Integrated Care Board, and the Chief Officer of Police. In Devon, these are represented by Devon County Council, NHS Devon Integrated Care Board, and Devon & Cornwall Police. 

Transition to the updated guidance began in December 2023, with full implementation by December 2024. This involved a comprehensive review of multi-agency safeguarding arrangements to ensure alignment with the revised expectations, particularly around shared responsibility, improved collaboration, and strengthened accountability. 

To support this, Devon SCP appointed Lead Safeguarding Partners (LSPs) and Delegated Safeguarding Partners (DSPs). LSPs provide strategic oversight, set shared priorities, approve key documents, and ensure governance mechanisms are in place. DSPs focus on operational delivery, including monitoring procedures, facilitating engagement, supporting training, and ensuring the voice of children and families informs service design. Education continues to play a vital strategic role, with a fourth partner representing the sector at DSP and LSP level. This inclusion has enhanced the partnership’s ability to respond to safeguarding concerns across schools, colleges, and early years settings. Education representatives have actively contributed to decision-making and the development of multi-agency strategies.

DSPs are responsible for the operational delivery of safeguarding priorities, including: 

• Monitoring multi-agency procedures and thresholds. 

• Facilitating strategic engagement with education and other agencies. 

• Overseeing effective information sharing and joint data analysis. 

• Supporting professional development and training. 

• Ensuring feedback from children and families informs service design. 

LSPs provide strategic oversight and direction, including: 

• Setting the vision and shared priorities for safeguarding arrangements. 

• Approving key documents such as the annual report, budget, and threshold guidance. 

• Ensuring governance and accountability mechanisms are in place. 

• Reviewing learning from serious incidents and independent scrutiny. 

• Ensuring all relevant agencies understand and fulfil their safeguarding roles. 

Devon SCP has strengthened its independent scrutiny arrangements, embedding both strategic and operational challenge, assurance of statutory compliance, and learning from local and national reviews. The voice of children and families is increasingly central to these processes. Findings from independent reviews have informed our priorities and improvement plans, ensuring that learning is embedded across agencies. 

The partnership is supported by thematic and operational groups, including the Devon Improvement Partnership Board, which oversees progress against strategic priorities. Regular meetings of the DSP Executive Group ensure strong leadership, transparency, and shared accountability across the safeguarding system. Independent scrutiny is embedded at both strategic and operational levels, offering challenge, assurance, and learning across the system. This includes ensuring the voice of children and families is central to all safeguarding activity. 

Section 3: Progress against statutory guidance

3.1 Implementation of Changes Set out in Statutory Guidance

In response to updates in Working Together to Safeguard Children (2023), the National Social Care Reforms, and evolving national expectations, the Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership has taken a number of steps to review and strengthen its multi-agency safeguarding arrangements. 

Activity – Review of the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Arrangements (MASA): The partnership undertook a comprehensive review of its MASA plan to ensure alignment with the revised statutory guidance, with particular attention to clarity of roles, escalation pathways, and accountability mechanisms. This will continue to be reviewed annually, in December each year. 

• Impact: The updated MASA arrangements have made roles clearer and improved understanding of how agencies work together, helping to ensure quicker and more effective safeguarding responses. Agencies across Devon are showing a stronger understanding of their shared responsibilities within the Devon SCP, leading to better engagement, more consistent data sharing, and a united approach to keeping children safe. 

• Future Plans: Annually review our multi-agency safeguarding arrangements in December 2025 informed by local needs, national priorities and input from children and young people. 

Activity – Changes to Devon SCP Executive Group (DSP): The Devon SCP Executive Group revised its Terms of Reference to reflect changes in leadership and to strengthen oversight functions. Subgroups were restructured to improve focus on priority areas such as exploitation, early help, social care reforms and learning from practice. 

• Impact: This has helped strengthen strategic oversight and sharpened the partnership’s focus on priority areas such as exploitation, early help, social care reforms, and learning from practice. These changes have enhanced coordination, improved responsiveness to emerging safeguarding challenges, and ensured that leadership structures are aligned with current needs. 

• Future Plans: We will conduct annual reviews of structures and subgroup functions to ensure they remain aligned with emerging safeguarding priorities, enhance strategic oversight, and improve responsiveness across the partnership, and to ensure they are fit for purpose. 

Activity – Social Care Reforms: The Devon SCP supported national social care reforms by reviewing the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and its implications for local safeguarding, particularly around multi-agency child protection teams, family group decision-making, and safeguarding for 16–17-year-olds – this was shared with partners via our Locality Partnership Meetings and Forums. Partners played a key role in shaping Family Hubs to strengthen early help services, supported the introduction of new care models like gap homes and emergency accommodation for children with complex needs, and worked closely with health partners to enhance therapeutic support and improve transitions through more effective joint commissioning. 

• Impact: Engagement with national social care reforms has strengthened local safeguarding practice by aligning with the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and supporting the development of multi-agency child protection teams, family-led decision-making, and improved safeguarding for 16–17-year-olds. Through Locality Partnership Meetings and Forums, partners were kept informed and actively contributed to shaping Family Hubs, new care models such as gap homes and emergency accommodation, and enhanced therapeutic support via joint commissioning – ensuring more responsive, inclusive, and coordinated services for children with complex needs. 

• Future Plans: The Partnership will continue aligning local practice with national social care reforms, including the rollout of multi-agency child protection teams. Stakeholder events will be organised to inform and plan with our partners in order to implement the Families First Partnership Programme by 1^st April 2026. Plans are also in place to expand Family Hub provision and assess its impact on safeguarding outcomes. The partnership will also develop a local response to the proposed Children Not In School register and changes to home education oversight, while further strengthening the voice of children and families through co-production and regular feedback. 

Activity – Local Devon Protocol for Assessment & Support: this was developed, and published by 31 December 2024, to provide a framework for agencies to work together in the best interests of children. 

• Impact: The protocol has provided a clear, shared framework for agencies to work collaboratively in the best interests of children. It has strengthened consistency in assessment and intervention, improved coordination across services, and supported better outcomes by ensuring children are safeguarded, supported, and enabled to reach their full potential. 

• Future Plans: Ensure the protocol is embedded in practice through ongoing training, monitoring its impact on outcomes, and refining it in response to feedback and emerging safeguarding needs. 

Activity – Education as a Safeguarding Partner: Recognising the vital role education plays in safeguarding, a fourth strategic partner from the education sector was formally added to the partnership’s Executive Group. In January 2024, a Lead Safeguarding Partner (LSP) from education joined the Devon SCP, ensuring stronger representation for schools, colleges, and early years settings in decision-making and governance. 

• Impact: Including education as a strategic partner has helped ensure that safeguarding concerns from schools, colleges, and early years settings are clearly heard and addressed at the highest level of the partnership. The inclusion of education as a strategic partner has worked towards ensuring that safeguarding concerns from schools and colleges are more directly represented and addressed at the highest level. 

• Future Plans: Strengthening education’s role within the partnership by deepening engagement with schools, colleges, and early years settings, ensuring their safeguarding insights continue to inform strategic decisions and drive improvements across the system. We will do this through working closely with Devon Education Service, our newsletters and combined training opportunities. 

Activity – Data Analysis: A data dashboard was introduced to better capture multi-agency safeguarding activity. In February 2025, a Management Information Officer – seconded and funded by children’s social care – was appointed to lead on data analysis and develop a multi-agency dashboard, now used to produce regular reports that inform strategic decisions and highlight trends 

• Impact: A multi-agency safeguarding dashboard enables regular, data-driven reporting that improves strategic decisions, highlights trends, and strengthens coordination across agencies as well as enhanced performance reporting enabling the partnership to track progress more effectively, respond to trends in real time and focus priorities more accurately. 

• Future Plans: To strengthen future use of the multi-agency safeguarding dashboard, the partnership plans to integrate its insights into the Think Tank process – using data to drive focused discussions, identify emerging risks, and shape strategic priorities. This will involve aligning dashboard reporting cycles with Think Tank meetings, ensuring that trend analysis informs decision-making, and using the dashboard to track the impact of actions agreed through the Think Tank. Standard Operating Plans will also be drawn up. 

Case Study: Elevating Education’s Role in Safeguarding 

Background: 
Historically, safeguarding concerns raised by schools and early years settings were not always consistently represented at the strategic level. With the introduction of Working Together 2023, Devon SCP prioritised the formal inclusion of education as a strategic partner. 

Action Taken: 
Education representatives were embedded into key governance structures, including the Devon SCP Executive, Business Group, and Quality Assurance and Workforce Delivery Group. The Education Advisory Group was reinstated, and County-wide Locality and Practitioner Forums were launched to facilitate two-way communication and feedback. 

Impact: 
This strengthened engagement has ensured that safeguarding issues from schools, colleges, and early years providers are now directly heard and addressed at the highest level. It has led to: 

• Faster escalation and resolution of concerns. 

• Improved alignment between education and safeguarding priorities. 

• Greater confidence among education professionals in the partnership’s responsiveness. 

Quote from Headteacher (anonymous): 
“Having a seat at the table has made a real difference. Our concerns are not only heard; they’re acted on. It feels like a true partnership now.” 

3.2 Contribution of Each Safeguarding Partner

a) Approaches to Partnership Governance Structures 

Activity: Review of Devon SCP Governance Structure The Devon SCP governance structure was reviewed to ensure clear lines of accountability and shared ownership across all safeguarding partners and a revised governance framework was introduced in early 2025, clarifying the roles of the Executive Group, subgroups, and task-and-finish groups.

The three statutory partners – Devon County Council, NHS Devon ICB, and Devon & Cornwall Police – have continued to provide joint leadership, with Education formally recognised as a fourth strategic partner. 

Each statutory partner has nominated a Lead Safeguarding Partner (LSP) who plays a key role in driving forward the priorities of the Devon SCP. These individuals provide strategic leadership within their respective agencies and act as the main point of accountability for safeguarding. In early 2025, a new LSP from the education sector was formally appointed, strengthening the partnership’s representation across schools, colleges, and early years settings. 

To support greater consistency across the region, pan-Devon LSP and DSP meetings have been established, involving safeguarding leads from Devon, Torbay, and Plymouth. These meetings help align priorities, share learning, and coordinate responses to cross-border issues. In 2024–2025, the Devon SCP helped develop clear terms of reference for both groups, setting out their purpose, membership, and responsibilities. The LSP group focuses on strategic oversight, while the DSP group supports operational delivery and implementation of shared priorities, and is the first line of accountability. 

Impact:

• Improved clarity and consistency in decision-making across the partnership. 

• Stronger engagement from all partners, including education, health, and police, in both strategic and operational discussions. 

• More effective use of data and intelligence to inform priorities and monitor progress. 

• The involvement of LSPs has ensured that safeguarding remains a strategic priority across all agencies. Their leadership has helped maintain momentum on key initiatives, improved cross-agency communication, and strengthened the partnership’s ability to respond to emerging risks. Regular pan-Devon and Cornwall LSP meetings have further enhanced this by fostering regional alignment, enabling shared learning, and supporting a more joined-up approach to tackling common safeguarding challenges across local authority boundaries. 

Evidence of the Impact: 

• Increased attendance and participation in Executive and subgroup meetings. 

• Positive feedback from partners on the clarity of roles and escalation pathways. 

• Timely delivery of multi-agency audits and performance reports. 

• Regular attendance and active participation of LSPs in Executive Group meetings and strategic planning sessions and clear lines of accountability and decision-making evidenced in governance documentation and meeting records. 

Future Plans: 

• Further embed the role of education in all levels of governance. 

• Explore opportunities for joint governance with neighbouring areas (e.g., pan-Devon or Devon-Cornwall collaboration). 

• Develop a visual governance map with accompanying narrative to support transparency and induction of new members. 

3.4 Analysis of Areas with Limited Progress

Despite notable achievements across several strategic areas, the Devon SCP recognises that progress has been limited in the following key areas identified in the previous year’s report: 

Embedding Learning into Practice – while multiple learning reviews and audits were completed, there is insufficient evidence that learning has been consistently embedded into frontline practice across all agencies. 

• Impact: Recurrent themes from previous reviews, such as inconsistent application of thresholds, recognition and response to child neglect and variable quality of child voice, continue to emerge. 

• Evidence: Audit findings and scrutineer observations indicate that learning is not always translating into sustained practice change. 

• Future Plan: Learning from audits, reviews, and training was not always fully understood, disseminated or used by frontline staff. Although learning events and materials were shared, there’s limited evidence that this has led to consistent changes in day-to-day practice. When learning isn’t embedded, the same issues can keep happening, and children may not get the best possible support. The Pan-Devon and Cornwall Workforce Development Group will lead on creating a shared approach to tracking how learning is used in practice, with follow-up audits and feedback loops to check progress whilst also working on delivering joint training and events to make it easier for practitioners to access what they need, when they need it. Working close together could lead to the development of a new shared “Learning into Practice Framework” with clearer accountability mechanisms and follow-up audits to track implementation across the Partnerships. 

Strengthening Consistent Application of Early Help – uptake and consistent use of Early Help pathways remain variable across the partnership. 

• Impact: Some children and families are not receiving timely support at the earliest opportunity, leading to escalation of need. 

• Evidence: Data shows a plateau in Early Help assessments and a continued reliance on statutory interventions in some localities. 

• Future Plan: A strategy for Early Help and Family Help will be co-produced with locality teams, focusing on building workforce confidence, clarifying referral pathways, and strengthening the consistency of support offered to children and families at the earliest stage – this will link with the requirements within the upcoming Social Care Reforms. 

Participation of Fathers and Male Carers when supporting Families – whilst there has been some progress in improving engagement with fathers and male carers in assessments and planning across the multi-agency arena, there is still more work to be done. 

• Impact: Incomplete assessments and missed opportunities to understand family dynamics. 

• Evidence: Case audits and feedback from families highlight that fathers are often not routinely included or consulted. 

• Future Plan: A partnership-wide approach will be developed to improve how fathers and male carers are engaged in assessments and planning, with a focus on promoting inclusive practice and addressing unconscious bias across all agencies. Guidance will be written to help practitioners think about the inclusion of men in families. 

Voice of the Child – while operational engagement with children has improved, their voices are not yet consistently influencing their own plans or strategic decision-making. There is no scrutiny of the Devon SCP by children and young people.

• Impact: Strategic priorities and service design do not fully reflect the lived experiences and priorities of children and young people. 

• Evidence: Limited examples of how participation feedback has shaped board-level decisions or policy development. 

• Future Plan: The Devon County Council Participation Team will adopt a more formal multi-agency role in supporting the engagement of children and young people, ensuring their voices are actively involved in reviewing and shaping the work and priorities of the Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership, including scrutiny of some of the areas of work, where appropriate. The Devon SCP will conduct a survey of partners, and set up a task and finish group, to address the gaps in the capturing and recording of the child’s voice 

Learning from Serious Incidents

Learning from serious incidents remains a core function of the Devon SCP. This year, the partnership has continued to prioritise the timely identification, review, and dissemination of learning from serious child safeguarding cases, in line with statutory guidance. 

During the 2024 to 2025 financial year, the Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership (Devon SCP) undertook a series of statutory reviews in response to serious incidents involving children. 11 Serious Incident Notification (SIN) discussions were held, resulting in 8 formal notifications. All 8 notifications progressed to Rapid Reviews (RRs), with 5 subsequently leading to Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (CSPRs). 1 CSPR was published within the reporting period. 

The nature of incidents reviewed included cases of serious harm and abuse, with physical abuse and neglect being the most prevalent categories. Emotional abuse and sexual abuse were also identified, though less frequently. The age distribution of affected children mirrored national trends, with children under 1 year old and those aged 2 – 5 being most commonly subject to physical harm. Neglect was more prominent among children aged 11 – 15. 

The National Panel agreed with Devon SCP’s decisions regarding no need for CSPRs in 7 out of the 8 Rapid Reviews submitted. In terms of report quality, one of Devon’s 6 review reports was commended, and another was considered to be of good quality. The Partnership continues to focus on improving the consistency and depth of its review outputs. 

Recurring themes identified across the Rapid Reviews included insufficient professional curiosity, delays or failures in information sharing, and weaknesses in early intervention and risk assessment. These issues reflect longstanding challenges both locally and nationally. In all but 1 review, professionals were found to have failed to share critical information in a timely manner, echoing findings from other multi-agency audits. 

The reviews also highlighted systemic issues such as poor professional oversight, lack of multi-agency planning, and barriers created by consent protocols. Additional concerns included inadequate responses to non-attendance, lack of SMART planning, and insufficient trauma-informed approaches. 

A wide range of agencies contributed to the reviews, including health services, police, education, social care, housing, probation, and youth justice. Each agency provided individual summaries, reflecting on their own practices and systems to support learning and improvement. Notably, 2 Rapid Reviews were led by neighbouring areas Plymouth and Torbay with Devon SCP involved due to the families’ connections to Devon services. 

This year’s statutory review activity has reinforced the critical role of multi-agency collaboration, timely information sharing, and professional curiosity in safeguarding children. Through a series of Rapid Reviews and Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews, Devon SCP identified recurring systemic issues and drove improvements in practice, with national recognition for the quality of its review outputs and a continued commitment to learning and strengthening child protection across the county. 

Impact of Activities 

• Learning Dissemination: Key messages from reviews were shared through multi-agency briefings, learning events, and reflective practice sessions. The Devon SCP Workforce and Training bulletin was used to highlight emerging themes and practice tips, as well as the website and quarterly newsletter. 

• Practice Improvement: Some evidence of improved professional curiosity and information sharing has been noted in follow-up audits, though further work is needed to embed learning consistently. 

• Governance: The Devon SCP Quality Assurance & Workforce Delivery Group, has overseen the implementation of learning and monitored progress against action plans. 

Evidence of Impact 

• Follow-up audits and case reviews have shown encouraging signs that learning from serious incidents is beginning to influence practice, with improvements noted in the application of thresholds, the quality of assessments, and the demonstration of professional curiosity. These reviews also provide evidence that earlier intervention and more effective information sharing are being applied in similar cases. Additionally, there has been a noticeable reduction in the recurrence of key themes in new serious incident notifications and reviews, suggesting that previous learning is starting to have a preventative impact.

• Staff feedback gathered through surveys and discussions indicate that practitioners feel increasingly confident in managing complex safeguarding concerns. 

• Policies and protocols have been revised in response to review findings (e.g., escalation procedures, information sharing protocols, professional curiosity guidance) and new tools and guidance been introduced such as the Child Neglect Strategy, child neglect guidance for practitioners alongside tools to use when you’re worried about neglect and reflective practice prompts have been added to evaluations linked to review learning and other training. 

• Improved response to multi-agency safeguarding meetings or referrals, including strategy meetings and improved attendance at Initial Child Protection Conferences (ICPCs). Increased attendance and engagement in multi-agency learning sessions focused on review findings. 

• Evidence of impact includes the completion and formal sign-off of actions from Rapid Reviews and CSPRs by the CSPR Group and Executive Group , alongside confirmation from independent scrutineers that learning is being effectively embedded and monitored across the partnership.

Future Plans 

The Devon SCP will strengthen its approach to learning from serious incidents by implementing a more structured follow-up process to assess how learning is embedded into practice over time. This will include post-review audits, practitioner feedback, and regular challenge sessions to evaluate the impact of learning. The partnership is looking at how to enhance family involvement in the review process to ensure that the voices of children and families contribute meaningfully to learning and improvement. Additionally, Devon SCP will continue to engage with national reviews and collaborate with neighbouring partnerships through the Pan-Devon and Cornwall Workforce Development Group, promoting shared learning and consistent practice improvement across the region. 

3.6 Key Decisions and Action Plans

Throughout the yearly cycle, the Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership has maintained a clear and accountable record of key decisions and actions taken in response to both local and national learning. Safeguarding partners have collectively reviewed and endorsed the findings of Rapid Reviews and Local Child Safeguarding Practice Reviews (LCSPRs), ensuring that recommendations are translated into concrete, time-bound action plans.. The Business Group has monitored the implementation of these actions, with progress regularly reported to the Executive. In addition, learning from national reviews, such as those published by the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel, has been considered and, where relevant, integrated into local practice development. Independent scrutineer feedback has confirmed that the partnership is taking a proactive and reflective approach to learning, with evidence of improved practice in areas such as professional curiosity, threshold application, and multi-agency coordination. These decisions and actions demonstrate the partnership’s commitment to continuous improvement and to ensuring that learning from serious incidents leads to meaningful change for children and families in Devon. 

Devon SCP Partnership Priorities were agreed and shared: 

1. Improving outcomes of pre-birth services and for infants 

2. Improving partnership working in compliance with Working Together, focusing on areas of shared responsibility and multi-agency responses to families 

3. Improving response to adolescent need through developing multi-agency contextual safeguarding approaches 

4. Improving the partnership response to domestic abuse to prevent harm to children 

Priority 1 

• A Task and Finish Group was established under Priority 1, led by Children’s Social Care, to review and improve the Devon Pregnancy Pathway. The updated pathway was shared and promoted through a multi-agency partnership event, ensuring broad engagement and collaboration. 

• The ICON Project, which is focused on supporting parents to cope with crying and preventing traumatic head injuries – was successfully introduced by health partners. As part of the rollout, 40 probation officers received training in ICON principles to extend its reach and impact. 

• Safe Sleeping Guidance was reviewed, agreed upon, and subsequently published on the Devon SCP website, providing accessible and consistent advice to professionals and families. 

Impact – stronger multi-agency coordination, clearer guidance for professionals through the revised Devon Pregnancy Pathway, wider awareness of infant safety via ICON training for probation officers, and improved safe sleep messaging through published guidance – all contributing to earlier support and reduced risk for vulnerable babies and families. 

Priority 2 

• The Education Advisory Group was reintroduced

• A WT23 briefing was given and and followed up by the Business Group across Education

• The DFE advisor Deborah McMillan lead the Devon SCP through a Partnership Health Check

• MASH Strategic Group had a focus on Priority No 2. 

• A particular focus around training, comms, data and performance in this area. 

• A further piece of work was completed across the Partnership regarding how assessments are undertaken.

• Details around thresholds and protocols for assessment were worked on and published. 

Impact – the reintroduction of the Education Advisory Group and WT23 briefing strengthened engagement across education settings, while the DfE-led Partnership Health Check provided valuable insight into system strengths and areas for improvement. The MASH Strategic Group focused efforts on Priority 2, and cross-partnership work on assessments led to clearer protocols and published threshold guidance. Improvements in training, communications, and performance tracking (supported by an action tracker) have enhanced consistency and accountability across the safeguarding partnership. 

Priority 3 

• The Child Exploitation Group was re-established and worked on an Adolescent Safety Framework (ASF) Review which led to the planning of a CE Conference for 23^rd October 2024 at Sandy Park, Exeter for up to 230 participants. 

• CSA sub-group remained in situ; chaired by Health colleagues and reporting back into QAWDG and Business Group. 

• A daily dial in around daily missing children/ young people went live in April 2024. 

• The Philomena Protocol, a process around information sharing when young people go missing, was adopted and multi-agency training sessions delivered (x 4) with Police, Education and Children’s Social Care sector. Website redeveloped to include this protocol. 

Impact – the re-establishment of the Child Exploitation Group and review of the Adolescent Safety Framework strengthened strategic oversight and led to the planning of a major multi-agency conference, promoting shared learning and best practice. Daily coordination around missing children improved real-time safeguarding responses, while adoption of the Philomena Protocol enhanced information sharing and consistency across agencies. Continued work by the CSA sub-group ensured sustained focus on child sexual abuse, and multi-agency training embedded new protocols into frontline practice, improving outcomes for vulnerable adolescents. 

Priority 4 

• Safer Devon (Community Partnership) backed a long-term youth-focused initiative aimed at helping young people recover from domestic abuse. This project prioritises support for children and young people in their own right, rather than solely through their parents or carers, and forms part of a broader 10-year youth offer. 

• MARAC (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference) underwent a comprehensive review, resulting in a 12-month improvement plan. The redesign includes enhanced referral pathways, which are expected to positively impact children affected by domestic abuse by ensuring more timely and appropriate support. 

• Within the Youth Justice Service, a Young Person’s Behaviour Change Project got underway. Practitioners work directly with young people to interrupt and prevent cycles of harmful behaviour, promoting safer outcomes. 

• The Interpersonal Gender-Based Violence Group has aligned its work with this priority, strengthening the connection between services for both children and adults and ensuring a more integrated approach to tackling interpersonal harm. 

• NHS Devon commissioned an Interpersonal Trauma Response Project focused on children and young people, with an initial pilot targeting children. In the first four months, 78 referrals were made. Early outcomes show that the project is helping children feel safer and more able to talk about their experiences. Initial evidence suggests many of these children are either awaiting CAMHS referrals or are neurodiverse. The project is helping to better interpret children’s emotional states and experiences, identifying trauma responses that may otherwise be misclassified as mental health or neurodevelopmental needs. 

Impact – this collective work has significantly strengthened support for children and young people affected by domestic abuse and harmful behaviours. By shifting the focus to young people as individuals in need of direct support, services have become more responsive and trauma-informed. Improvements to MARAC processes are enhancing safeguarding outcomes, while behaviour change interventions within the Youth Justice Service are helping to break cycles of harm. The integration of gender-based violence work and the commissioning of the Interpersonal Trauma Response Project by NHS Devon are providing vital early intervention, with promising evidence that children are feeling safer and more able to express their experiences. This approach is also helping to better distinguish trauma from neurodevelopmental or mental health needs, ensuring more appropriate pathways of care. 

Other activities and decisions made throughout this reporting period include: 

• Emerging themes such as trauma-informed practice, system response and specialist services, and a notable gap in capturing lived experience and the voice of children and young people were explored alongside learning from familial domestic abuse, misogyny, the manosphere, and peer-on-peer harmful sexual behaviours. As well as encouraging reflective practice, cross-agency learning and continuous improvement, this work raised awareness of emerging risks and cultural influences affecting children and young people, especially around gender-based harm and online influences. 

• The Peninsula CDOP Steering Group was established, with learning from the annual report disseminated [this will be added here when published on Devon SCP website]. This Group came together to strengthen regional collaboration and strategic oversight of child death reviews. The dissemination of learning from the annual report shares key insights across agencies, supporting evidence-based improvements in safeguarding practice and helping to prevent future harm. It has enhanced the Devon SCP’s ability to respond proactively to emerging risks and provided learning themes for thematics, audits and best practice events. 

• A MASH Strategic Board Harm Review was completed and this highlighted the need for stronger strategic oversight and clearer visibility into the Children’s Front Door to improve communication and leadership. It also identified significant data limitations that hindered the identification of emerging risks, and called for improvements in the quality and timeliness of rapid reviews and safeguarding practice reviews. These findings have prompted targeted actions across the Partnership.

• The Levels of Need/Thresholds tool was reviewed for consistency across the Peninsula, including collaboration with the College of Policing. This review help strengthen the consistency in decision-making. Collaboration with the College of Policing has enhanced alignment with national standards and supported improved multi-agency responses. Future plans to develop a peninsula-wide levels of need tool will help ensure that children and families receive the right support at the right time regardless of where they live, contributing to a more consistent and equitable safeguarding approach across Devon & Cornwall. 

• A Children’s Social Care audit focused on strategy meetings for children under 2 where physical harm was a concern. This targeted audit strengthened the partnership’s understanding of safeguarding responses for very young children at risk of physical harm. It has helped identify areas for improvement in how strategy meetings are convened, recorded, and followed up, ensuring that multi-agency decision-making is timely, well-informed, and child-focused.

• Partnership Safeguarding Arrangements were aligned with the ILACS visit to CSC in September 2024 which supported a more coherent and well-prepared approach to the inspection. The strategic alignment between Devon SCP and Children’s Social Care was also strengthened, and this enabled the partnership to demonstrate its priorities, governance, and impact.

• The Family Hub model underwent multi-agency and public consultation which helped design Family Hubs which incorporated diverse perspectives and local needs. Because of this, the Family Hub model in Devon should be better aligned with community expectations and service delivery priorities. 

• A Section 11 audit tool was developed for use across Peninsula partners. This appetite for a unified approach will develop accountability across agencies, contributing to improved safeguarding practice and governance across the Peninsula. 

• The Section 175 audit findings were shared with Education Advisory and Business Groups, with an action plan and Workforce Delivery group established. Establishing an action plan and a dedicated data working group means that identified issues are addressed systematically, promotes data-informed decision-making, and supports continuous improvement in safeguarding practice within schools and education settings. 

• A revised multi-agency Healthy Sexual Behaviours (HSB) guidance document was written and launched. Alongside this, practitioners were trained in AIM3, and the Safe and Healthy Sexual Behaviours Forum was launched on 18 July 2024. This has strengthened practitioner confidence and consistency in responding to HSB as well as promoting a shared understanding, improving risk assessment and intervention, and supporting safer outcomes for children and young people. 

• Childrens Social Care (CSC) was asked to implement clear timescales for distributing statutory meeting minutes and plans which ultimately will improve accountability and timeliness in safeguarding processes.

• A review of face-to-face versus remote working across agencies was completed. This provided an insight into how different working models affect multi-agency collaboration, communication, and safeguarding practice. The findings helped decisions about future working arrangements, helping to balance flexibility with the need for effective partnership working. 

• QA frameworks from CSC, Public Health Nursing, and Police were integrated to update the Devon SCP QA Framework. has strengthened consistency and alignment across agencies. This collaborative approach has helped the partnership to monitor safeguarding effectiveness, to share learning, and drive continuous improvement. 

• The Case Resolution Protocol and Escalation Process was updated which has improved clarity and consistency in how professional disagreements come into the Partnership business team, and how those disputes are dealt with. This has helped with timely resolutions as well as strengthening our partners understanding of mutual challenge and how to do it. As a consequence, safeguarding concerns/escalations have been addressed efficiently and collaboratively. 

• A JTAI serious violence self-assessment was shared across the partnership to support preparation for future inspections. Co-produced by partners, it has helped identify areas for improvement and align local safeguarding priorities with national expectations. 

• The formation of a Neglect Task and Finish Group in response to three Serious Incident Notifications will help strengthen the partnership’s approach to tackling neglect. Through multi-agency collaboration, the group have been rewriting the child neglect strategy, practitioner guidance, and toolkit – ensuring they are more robust, evidence-informed, and aligned with current practice. When completed, it is hoped that they will provided clarity, consistency, and confidence among practitioners in identifying and responding to neglect across the system. 

• Designing an impact form to better capture the voice of children and young people was done to strengthen the partnership’s commitment to child-centred practice. Over the next 12 months, more work will be completed on how the Partnership can support more consistent and meaningful feedback, ensuring that children’s views directly inform service development and decision-making, and that we understand their lived experiences. 

• Sharing the Community Safety Strategic Assessment has strengthened transparency and accountability across the partnership. By agreeing progress updates at three and six months, ongoing monitoring, will support timely action, and promote a shared commitment to improving community safety outcomes. 

• Initiating a push for in-person Initial Child Protection Conferences in response to Ofsted queries was lead by the Partnership’s commitment to ensuring safeguarding practice is child-centred and of good quality. Meeting in person will support more effective multi-agency decision-making, strengthen relationships with families, and ensure that concerns are addressed with greater clarity and immediacy. Data will be used to track this, including multi-agency attendance. 

• Professional Curiosity Guidance was co-produced with partners to strengthen shared understanding and promote consistent safeguarding practice across the partnership. This guidance encourages confident, inquisitive approaches to identifying and responding to concerns about children and families – addressing a key weakness highlighted in audits, thematics, and rapid reviews during the reporting period. 

• The Education Advisory Group’s commitment to updating the Education safeguarding and child protection model policy has led to consistency and clarity across educational settings. This update also ensures that schools and colleges are aligned with current legislation, best practice, and local safeguarding priorities, in turn supporting safer environments for children and young people. 

• Discussions around police strip searches led to Devon & Cornwall Police agreeing to reporting these searches, a key step toward greater transparency and accountability. As well as improved oversight, this will help with identifying patterns or concerns. 

• Following a national roundtable event on race and child protection, a focused discussion on child adultification and racism led to a co-produced report and action plan for Partnership. It has also deepened understanding within partner agencies of how bias and stereotyping can impact safeguarding responses, supporting more equitable, child-centred practice moving forward. 

Impact Summary 

This body of work has led to a more cohesive, trauma-informed, and responsive safeguarding partnership across the Peninsula. Strategic reviews and audits have strengthened consistency in thresholds, improved multi-agency coordination, and enhanced quality assurance frameworks. The redesign of tools and protocols, such as the HSB guidance, the child neglect strategy, and professional curiosity guidance, has equipped practitioners with clearer responsibilities and better support for complex cases. The increased focus on harmful sexual behaviours, domestic abuse, and child protection has driven targeted training and improved practice. Importantly, there is growing recognition of the need to embed the voice of children and young people, with new mechanisms introduced to capture lived experience. These developments collectively reflect a system that has become more reflective, accountable, and better prepared for inspection and continuous improvement. 

Case Study: Strengthening Support for Vulnerable Families Pre-Birth 

Background: A young expectant mother, aged 19, was referred to Children’s Social Care during her second trimester due to concerns around housing instability, limited family support, and emotional wellbeing. Historically, coordination between services had been fragmented, delaying early intervention. 

Intervention: Following the implementation of the revised Devon Pregnancy Pathway, the referral triggered a multi-agency response. A joint assessment was carried out involving midwifery, health visiting, and social care. The mother was invited to a partnership-supported antenatal session where she received information on ICON coping strategies, safe sleep practices, and local support services. 

Outcome: 
The mother reported feeling more confident and supported. She developed a safer sleep plan, understood how to manage infant crying, and was connected to a young parents’ support group. The early, coordinated intervention reduced the risk of harm and ensured a smoother transition into parenthood. 

Impact: 
This case highlights how Priority 1 initiatives (clearer pathways, shared guidance, and targeted training) enabled earlier, more effective support for a vulnerable family, reducing risk and improving outcomes for both parent and baby.

Future Plans 

• Integrating Restorative and Trauma-Informed Practices into Core Safeguarding and Service Delivery Frameworks – Continue to strengthen trauma-informed approaches across services, ensuring that responses to domestic abuse, harmful sexual behaviours, and exploitation are rooted in understanding lived experience and emotional impact. 

• Promoting meaningful engagement with children and young people across all areas of partnership work – Roll out the impact survey across agencies to systematically capture and reflect the voice of children and young people in service design, delivery, and evaluation over the next 12 months. Develop a Youth Participation strategy. 

• Strengthening Multi-Agency Safeguarding – Build on the revised safeguarding arrangements post-ILACS visit, ensuring sustained alignment and readiness for future inspections, including JTAI. Further embed the updated QA Framework across all partners. 

• Improving Threshold Consistency and Decision-Making – Finalise and implement a revised Levels of Need/Thresholds tool, which also reflects the social care reform changes. 

• Enhancing Harmful Sexual Behaviour Response – Expand AIM3 training and promote the Safe and Healthy Sexual Behaviours Forum as the central hub for guidance and referrals. Monitor uptake and impact to inform future development with a written report to CSA Group quarterly. 

• Child Neglect Strategy Implementation – rewrite and launch the revised Child Neglect Strategy, Practitioner Guidance, and Toolkit, with a focus on improving early identification and intervention across the Partnership, followed by the delivery of 3 x best practice sessions. 

• Data and Insight Development – Strengthen data collection and analysis through the Section 175 working group and other audit mechanisms to inform targeted improvement plans and track progress. 

• Face-to-Face Practice and Professional Standards – Monitor and support the shift back to in-person Initial Child Protection Conferences.

• Professional Curiosity – continue to promote professional curiosity through guidance and training. 

• Education Safeguarding Policy Update – Support the Education Advisory Group in updating the safeguarding and child protection model policy, ensuring it reflects current risks and best practice and providing questions for future Section 175 audits from Devon SCP sub-group members. 

• Equity and Inclusion – Take forward actions from the child adultification and racism roundtable, embedding anti-racist practice and cultural competence into safeguarding work. 

• Monitoring and Accountability – Provide 3- and 6-month updates on progress against the Community Safety Strategic Assessment and ensure timely reporting on police strip searches and other agreed areas. 

Case Study: Professional Curiosity – Childcare 

Setting: A nursery in Devon caring for children aged 2–4 years. 

Background: A child, aged 3, displayed subtle changes in behaviour – becoming unusually quiet during play, reluctant to engage with peers, and showing signs of anxiety during drop-off. Staff noted that the child had previously been confident and sociable. 

Initial Observations: There were no visible signs of harm, and the child’s physical development appeared typical. However, a key worker felt concerned and decided to explore further, guided by professional curiosity. 

Action Taken: The key worker initiated gentle conversations with the child using play-based techniques and observed interactions more closely. She also spoke with the parents during pick-up, asking open-ended questions about home routines and any recent changes. The parents mentioned that the family had recently moved in with extended relatives due to financial pressures, and the child was struggling to adjust to the new environment. 

Multi-Agency Response: The nursery’s safeguarding lead escalated the concern to Early Help, a Team Around the Family meeting was held and a co-produced support plan put in place, including signposting to family support services and emotional wellbeing resources for the child. Staff also adapted the nursery routine to provide the child with more one-on-one time and reassurance. 

Impact: The child’s behaviour gradually improved, and the family received practical support to ease the transition. This case demonstrated how professional curiosity – asking the extra question, noticing small behavioural shifts, and trusting instinct – can uncover underlying issues that may not be immediately visible. It also reinforced the importance of relational practice and early intervention in safeguarding. 

3.7 Financial Breakdown and Value for Money

Breakdown of Funding from each Safeguarding Partner for 2024-25 

The delivery of Devon’s multi-agency safeguarding arrangements is supported through financial contributions from the three statutory safeguarding partners: Devon County Council (DCC), Devon and Cornwall Police, and NHS Devon Integrated Care Board (ICB). The table below outlines the contributions for the reporting year: 

3.8 Representation of Education Sector

The Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership recognises the critical role of the education sector in identifying and responding to safeguarding concerns. Throughout the reporting year, safeguarding partners have taken deliberate steps to ensure that education is meaningfully represented and actively engaged at both operational and strategic levels of the partnership arrangements. 

Operational Level Engagement – at operational level, the Devon SCP has maintained strong links with the education sector through dedicated forums and sub-groups. The Education Advisory Group, which includes representatives from primary, secondary, special schools, and further education providers, meets regularly to share intelligence, escalate concerns, and contribute to the development of safeguarding practice. In addition, education professionals are routinely involved in multi-agency audits, learning reviews, and task-and-finish groups, ensuring their frontline experience informs partnership learning and improvement activity as well as regular attendance at conferences, learning events and multi-agency training. 

Strategic Level Representation – At strategic level, education is represented on the Devon SCP Executive by senior leaders from Devon County Council’s Education Service. This ensures that the voice of education is present in high-level decision-making and that safeguarding priorities reflect the realities and pressures faced by schools and colleges. Education representatives also attend and contribute to the Business Group and are consulted on key policy developments, including the implementation of learning from serious case reviews and national safeguarding guidance. 

Executive Level Representation – Executive-level attendance from our education representative has remained consistent in this reporting period, with valuable input into strategic safeguarding discussions. An education representative at the LSP level has been sought from a multi-agency academy trust which spans across Devon and cross-border and their attendance at LSP Group meetings is scheduled to begin from April 2025, strengthening education’s role in multi-agency planning and operational oversight.

Impact and Future Plans 

Dual level engagement has strengthened the partnership’s ability to respond to emerging safeguarding issues within education settings, including contextual safeguarding, attendance concerns, elective home educated children (EHE) and children missing from school. Looking ahead, the Devon SCP will continue to build on this foundation by exploring opportunities for greater representation from independent and alternative provision settings, and by enhancing the feedback loop between schools and the partnership to ensure that learning and policy are grounded in lived experience. 

3.9 Use of data and information sharing

How data is being used to encourage learning within the arrangements – The Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership (SCP) is committed to using data as a central tool for learning and continuous improvement across its safeguarding arrangements. The partnership employed a data analyst/management information officer in February 2025 who actively gathers and analyses data from audits, reviews, and feedback to identify recurring themes, measure impact, and inform strategic decisions. Data from childrens services, education, health and police is included in this as well as the voices of children, families and practitioners to understand lived experiences and outcomes. The Partnership promotes a culture of curiosity and scrutiny, encouraging agencies to interrogate need data and engage in appreciative inquiries. A key innovation supporting this approach is the Think Tank, a collaborative forum that brings together professionals from across the partnership to explore complex safeguarding issues using data-driven insights. The Think Tank helps translate intelligence into practical learning, supports reflective practice, and fosters a shared understanding of challenges and solutions within the multi-agency system.

How information sharing has improved practice and outcomes. Improved information sharing within the Devon SCP has led to more coordinated multi-agency responses, better identification of emerging safeguarding issues, which should ultimately lead to timely support for children and families. Evidence from audits and reviews shows that shared intelligence has enhanced decision-making and reduced duplication. The Think Tank and Quality Assurance groups have played a key role in translating shared data into learning, helping to embed reflective practice and drive improvements in outcomes across the partnership. 

3.10 Updates to published arrangements

The Devon SCP safeguarding arrangements were updated and published on 31st December 2024, in line with the requirements of Working Together 2023. Only minor revisions were necessary, as the existing arrangements were already broadly aligned with the updated guidance. These arrangements will continue to be reviewed annually to ensure ongoing compliance and effectiveness. 

3.11 Implementation of National Reforms

Throughout 2024–2025, Devon SCP has actively responded to a series of national safeguarding reforms, particularly those arising from: 

• Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 (WT23): Devon SCP implemented the requirements of this publication and reviewed and updated its multi-agency safeguarding arrangements. 

• Children’s Social Care Reforms: Informed by the Keeping Children Safe, Helping Families Thrive policy and the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, Devon SCP has begun preparing for the integration of Family Help Services, enhanced support for kinship carers, and the development of multi-agency child protection teams. These reforms aim to improve early intervention and reduce reliance on statutory care. KPIs were reviewed to monitor the progress in respect of access to early help and placement stability. 

• Mandatory Reporting of Child Sexual Abuse: The Crime and Policing Bill proposed a statutory duty for professionals in regulated activity to report known or disclosed child sexual abuse (January 2025). The Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) Group briefed partners and reviewed local protocols to ensure readiness for implementation once the legislation is enacted. Future plans include the development of a multi-agency CSA strategy.

• Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2024: Devon SCP has supported education partners in adapting to updates including expanded online safety risks (e.g., misinformation, conspiracy theories), strengthened attendance protocols, and clarified responsibilities around kinship care and alternative provision. Through the Education Advisory Group, and working with colleagues in Devon Education Services, we provided clear guidance for schools on local thresholds for intervention and promoted consistent safeguarding practices to ensure they were aligned with local protocols. Briefings to ensure that schools placing pupils in alternative provision understand their ongoing safeguarding responsibilities were also provided alongside support to schools in addressing persistent absenteeism as a potential safeguarding concern. Guidance was also provided to help schools response to new and emerging safeguarding risks, such as online exploitation misinformation and domestic abuse indicators. 

Key Decisions and Actions Taken 

• Multi-agency training sessions were delivered to ensure professionals understood their roles under WT23 and upcoming reforms. 

• Workshops, briefings and presentations were developed to promote information sharing and clarify consent. 

• Local protocols were reviewed and updated, including escalation procedures, harmful sexual behaviour guidance, and information-sharing protocols. 

• Executives (DSPs) have been actively involved in implementation planning and strategic oversight to ensure reforms are embedded effectively. 

• It was agreed that an education representative would be sought to attend LSP meetings from April 2025 to strengthen operational collaboration. 

Issues and Concerns Encountered 

• Rising demand and financial constraints have challenged the pace of implementation across all agencies.. 

• Recruitment and retention issues, especially in social care and education, have impacted consistency in safeguarding practice. 

• While reforms promote better data sharing, clarity around thresholds, information sharing and consent remains a concern among practitioners. 

Future Statutory Changes and Preparations 

• Findings from the Casey Audit will inform future safeguarding priorities and inspection frameworks. Devon SCP is reviewing its response protocols in anticipation of further guidance. The multi-agency CE Strategy will be reviewed and re-written in the new financial year. 

• Information gathering from partner agencies in respect of a response to a Child Sexual Abuse JTAI’s across the UK. 

3.12 Review of Use of Restraint in Secure Establishments

The Atkinson Secure Children’s Home Physical Intervention Overview 2024–2025 outlines the home’s approach to managing physical interventions with young people aged 10–17. Staff are trained in trauma-informed, de-escalation-focused practices, using physical restraint only as a last resort. Each incident is thoroughly recorded, reviewed, and monitored via CCTV, with debriefs offered to both staff and young people. Oversight is provided through internal quality assurance, monthly Regulation 44 visits, and external reviews by the Devon LADO team, ensuring interventions are proportionate and necessary. During the reporting year, there were 215 recorded physical interventions involving 10 children, which is an increase from the previous year, largely due to one young person with complex needs. The home responded with tailored support and multi-agency collaboration. Young people’s voices are central to the process, with opportunities to reflect on their experiences and contribute to their Safety Support Plans. Feedback has informed improvements in staff practice, communication, and emotional support, reinforcing the home’s commitment to safe, empathetic, and reflective care. [The full Restraint Report will be added here when published on Devon SCP website].

Section 4: Additional information

4.1 Focus on strategic priorities

Common priorities partnerships have identified to focus joint efforts on: 

• Neglect 

• Exploitation and contextual safeguarding 

• Information Sharing 

• Professional Curiosity 

• Lived experience (the voice of the child, young person, family, adult) 

• JTAI self-assessment to be inspection ready around serious youth violence, domestic abuse and criminal exploitation 

• Mental health 

Over the past year, the Partnership has worked collaboratively to address key safeguarding priorities including neglect, child exploitation, domestic abuse, and children’s mental health. Significant progress has been made, such as improved multi-agency coordination around exploitation and serious youth violence, and trauma-informed projects that provide direct support to children affected by domestic abuse. Mental health initiatives help us to better understand the impact of trauma and reduce reliance on specialist services. Alongside these developments, the Partnership has focused on strengthening professional curiosity, improving information sharing, and embedding the voice of children, young people, and families into service design. While challenges remain, particularly around consistency of practice and capturing lived experience, the work undertaken has laid strong foundations for continued improvement and more responsive safeguarding across the region. 

4.2 Strengthening multi-agency collaboration

The Devon SCP brings together key organisations and by working together we build trust and make communication easier. Shared tools and training has supported professionals to be more competent and confident in asking questions when something doesn’t feel right – this is called professional curiosity, and it helps uncover hidden risks. However, working across different organisations can be challenging. Each service has its own way of working, and sometimes it’s hard to share information quickly or understand each other’s thresholds for concern. Sometimes it’s difficult to know who to contact or speak to. We’re working hard to improve this by building stronger relationships, clearer processes, and making sure the voices of children and families are heard in everything we do. We meet regularly, on line and in-person, and encourage practitioners to attend practitioner forums and Locality Partnership meetings so that we can build and strengthen relationships. 

4.3 Workforce development through multi-agency training, workforce capacity and hearing the voice of the workforce

Devon SCP recognises that a stable, skilled, and well-supported safeguarding workforce is essential to protecting children and young people. Across statutory partners and relevant agencies, challenges have been experienced in recruitment and retention, particularly in frontline roles such as social workers, health visitors, and early help practitioners. High turnover can impact continuity of care, increase caseload pressures, and affect multi-agency working. 

The Partnership has invested in workforce development through joint training, best practice sessions, and shared learning opportunities, as well as the production of a regular newsletter and learning briefings. There has also been an emphasis across the Partnership on supporting the co-location of teams and integrated working arrangements which should in the long term build stronger relationships and improve communication. However, workforce pressures remain a concern, and the Partnership continues to discuss staffing levels and support professional development to maintain a resilient safeguarding system. 

Devon SCP and its partners work hard to improve workforce retention by offering joint training, Regular supervision, reflective practice, and listening to staff feedback are recognised as being key to supporting those in demanding safeguarding roles and we are currently developing some multi-agency supervision training which we will pilot in 2025/6.

Devon SCP provides training and resources which build safeguarding knowledge and confidence across the multi-agency workforce Our training and resources – Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership. This includes regular sessions on key topics such as child neglect, courageous conversations, restorative practice as well as mandatory child protection and safeguarding training. All courses, workshops and resources are designed to reflect current challenges and best practice, and is informed by feedback from frontline staff to ensure it meets real-world needs. By involving practitioners in shaping the training offer, the Partnership ensures that learning is relevant, practical, and supports consistent safeguarding practice across all services working with children and families. Their feedback also helps shape the training packages. We work closely with our Partners to ensure our training offer aligns with their requirements, and to avoid duplication. Our Partners also often offer fully funded workshops and webinars which are open for all. We work hard to offer workforce development opportunities which are not costly so that everyone can attend who needs to. [the Annual Workforce Development Report will be here when published on Devon SCP website] 

Delivering a “fit for purpose” safeguarding training programme without dedicated funding or a workforce development team presents ongoing challenges. Limited financial resources restrict the ability to commission expert trainers, develop high-quality materials, and offer flexible learning formats. Without a workforce development team, coordinating sessions, tracking attendance, and evaluating impact is difficult, and maintaining consistency across agencies becomes more complex. Additionally, the multi-agency trainer pool has significantly reduced since COVID-19, placing increased pressure on the few remaining practitioners to deliver in-house sessions. 

To address this, Devon SCP is exploring sustainable funding options and strengthening collaboration with partner organisations to co-design and co-deliver training. Investing in a coordinated workforce development function would help ensure training is consistent, responsive to emerging needs, and accessible across the safeguarding system. 

Case Study: Improving Responses to Non-Accidental Injuries in Infants 

Devon SCP delivered targeted best practice sessions focused on non-accidental injuries in children under 2, following concerns identified through audit and serious incident reviews. These sessions helped practitioners across health, early years, and social care better recognise subtle indicators of physical harm and understand the importance of timely strategy discussions. It also helped develop and strengthen relationships between the practitioners that attended (100 at each session).

A health visitor stated in feedback that she would apply what she had learned from the session to escalate any concerns she had in the future about unexplained bruising in a non-mobile infant as this should lead to better outcomes from any multi-agency meeting that followed, thus safeguarding the child and supporting the family. Feedback from attendees also highlighted increased confidence in identifying risk plus improved clarity around thresholds and escalation pathways. 

4.4 Transitional safeguarding

Devon SCP recognises the importance of a smooth and well-supported transition for young people moving from children’s to adult services. This is particularly vital for those with additional needs, disabilities, or long-term health conditions. The Partnership works closely with Devon County Council’s Transitions (Adult Social Care), which begins planning from age 14 to ensure early identification and support and the Transitions team in Children’s Social Care. The Partnership in late 2025 is planning to undertake a thematic review on ‘transition’ within the Quality Assurance and Workforce Delivery Group (QAWDG). While this is a future focus, there has been considerable discussion around which aspect of transition should be explored, and this is currently under development 

4.5 Early help

Early Help faces several challenges, including unclear thresholds between universal, targeted, and statutory support, making it difficult to identify the right level of intervention for families with complex needs by our multi-agency partners. Multi-agency coordination remains inconsistent, with varying levels of engagement across partners. Workforce capacity and confidence in using tools like the Early Help Assessment and Right for Children system are also areas of concern. Additionally, issues around data sharing, system usability, and consent complicate effective collaboration. The transition to targeted services such as the Family Intervention Team and Links have not always been smooth, and strategic reviews are underway to align Early Help pathways with updated safeguarding guidance and the requirements of Family Hubs. As part of national reforms to children’s social care, Early Help is expected to evolve into a more integrated and family-focused model known as Family Help, which will provide earlier, multidisciplinary support and reduce barriers between universal, targeted, and statutory services. 

4.6 Mental health

The Devon Safeguarding Children Partnership (Devon SCP) hasn’t prioritise working to provide a coordinated multi-agency response to rising mental health concerns among children and young people. But in light of increasing demand for services and specific risks such as self-harm, suicide, and the mental health of vulnerable cohorts including children in care, targeted services such as Therapeutic Wellbeing Services have been signposted to practitioners and social workers, while initiatives like Young Devon’s MyWay service offer flexible, youth-led mental health support including counselling, CBT, and digital access via Kooth. Multi-agency newsletters and Locality Partnership forums have promoted well-being services to practitioners including the use of Normal Magic’s free resources Free resources – Normal Magic which support emotionally healthy living for children and families. Future plans include working with VSCE partners (Parental Minds, HeadsUp and SPARK) to co-hose events and campaigns that highlight mental health support, particularly during SaFest, our weeklong safeguarding on-line conference. 

Training for practitioners, including Mental Health First Aid, has also been delivered to strengthen early identification and response although the uptake of these courses have been lower than expected due to the fee that has to be charged to deliver these in-depth courses. 

4.7 Engaging parents/caregivers

This is an area of further work for the Partnership. 

Section 5: Future planning

Next Steps 

• Data Integration – Improve multi-agency data sharing and analysis to inform early intervention and measure impact. 

• Voice of Children and Families – Expand co-production and feedback mechanisms to shape services and priorities. 

• Independent Scrutiny – Enhance scrutiny methods to ensure transparency, challenge, and learning. Recruit a new Scrutineer. 

• Workforce Development – Best practice sessions on child neglect will be developed and facilitated to reflect the learning from the thematic review and the CSPR which is due in April 2025. A multi-agency restorative, relational and trauma-informed practice workshop will also be developed and delivered. The need for supervision workshops and action learning sets around purposeful contacts, analysing risk, assessments, recording, partnership working and voice of the child will be reviewed and assessed, alongside mandatory child protection training offered by the Partnership. 

• Emerging Risks – Looks at and respond to any threats such as online harm, missing children and electively home educated children/children missing from school. 

• Governance Review – Ensure governance structures remain effective and aligned with national guidance, including a review of priorities to ensure they remain aligned with emerging themes, inspection feedback, and the evolving needs of children and families. A refreshed strategic focus will enable the partnership to target resources effectively and drive continuous improvement in safeguarding outcomes. 

• Business Team and Wider Partnership Arrangements – a review is due both its business team and wider partnership arrangements to include financial arrangements. This will make sure that our structure, capacity, and ways of working remain fit for purpose, responsive to current demands, and aligned with strategic priorities – thereby supporting more effective coordination, delivery, and impact across the safeguarding system. This will be conducted by the Independent Scrutineer in Plymouth, and consultants in the Department of Education. There may be also some input from Devon’s Improvement Partners, Essex County Council. 

• Publish and Disseminate Strategies – child neglect, child sexual abuse, child exploitation, and domestic abuse strategies will be co-produced and published in 2025/26. 

• Families First Partnership Programme – we will continue to engage stakeholders through dedicated partnership events, creating space for reflection, collaboration, and shared learning in order to develop and deliver these social care reforms y 1 April 2026.

Section 6: Conclusion

Throughout 2024–2025, it feels like the Devon SCP has worked harder than ever to develop relationships, work together effectively and make significant strides in strengthening multi-agency safeguarding across the county. The transition to Working Together to Safeguard Children 2023 was successfully implemented, with clearer governance, enhanced strategic oversight, and improved operational delivery. The inclusion of education as a formal safeguarding partner, the appetite to build a multi-agency data dashboard, and the rollout of revised protocols and training will all contribute to a more responsive and accountable safeguarding system. The partnership has responded proactively to inspection findings, prioritising learning from serious incidents, and looked at how practitioners can work better and more confidently in areas such as neglect, domestic abuse, and exploitation. However, challenges remain, particularly around embedding learning into practice, making Early Help pathways clearer to frontline practitioners, strengthening the voice of children and families in strategic decision-making, and “working at pace” more effectively so that the Partnership is able to respond quickly and effectively to emerging issues, priorities, or external scrutiny. A proactive and agile approach to safeguarding, where actions are taken swiftly without compromising quality is key to our future development, and key to the safety of children, young people and families in Devon. 

Looking ahead, Devon SCP is committed co-producing and publishing updated strategies, further developing restorative, relational and trauma-informed practice, and improving scrutiny and accountability. Financial sustainability and workforce capacity will be key areas of focus to ensure the partnership remains resilient and effective. 

We invite all safeguarding partners, practitioners, and stakeholders to continue engaging actively with the Devon SCP. Whether through attending forums, contributing to audits, participating in training, or sharing feedback, your involvement is vital. Together, we can build a safeguarding system that is reflective, inclusive, and responsive – thereby ensuring every child in Devon is safe, supported, and able to thrive. 

Let’s keep asking that extra question by being curious, let’s listen to lived experience, and let’s work collaboratively to make Devon a safer place for children and young people.